Friday, August 29, 2014

A July Bride - A Year of Weddings Novella - by Beth Wiseman



About the book:

Can she forgive the man who left her at the altar?

Alyssa Pennington dated Brendan Myers for three years before she accepted his proposal. For almost a year, Alyssa's friends and family helped her plan a lovely wedding to take place in the church she'd grown up in. It was the happiest day of her life when she walked down the aisle to be united with the man of her dreams. But when Brendan left her at the altar, Alyssa was consumed by humiliation, embarrassment, and a broken heart that wouldn't allow her to trust anyone. Especially Brendan.

Brendan Myers knows he will spend the rest of his life regretting what he did to Alyssa, the only woman he's ever loved. Without her, his life is empty. In one fateful moment, he'd panicked, destroyed their future, and ruined everything. Now he plans to win her back.


But winning back his bride might prove much more difficult than he can imagine. And even if he does get her to the altar again, will she think turnabout is fair play?

My review:

I found this story interesting and the author did a good job of keeping my interest by not revealing why Brendan left Alyssa at the altar until near the end.  There's also another guy who enters the picture and at first it's unclear which one Alyssa should be with and even when I thought it was clear who she should choose, I still didn't know who she would end up with until it happened.  I felt incredibly sorry for Alyssa, to be stood up in front of the whole town and then have to endure Brendan trying to win her back with huge gestures everyone can see and comment on.  I also felt empathy for Brendan since it seemed like he really loved her and regretted what he did.  Finding out more about his home life growing up, it was understandable why he would be nervous about marriage.

I found the faith element lacking in the story. There's talk of going to church and Alyssa prays for a sign, but there's no depth.  At one point Alyssa prays for some people she found out had died during a storm, so I wondered if she was Catholic, though it's unclear.  There's no mention of going to mass or anything else Catholic related.  I did like her friend Sherry a lot and the wisdom she shared about marriage and forgiveness.  One thing I really couldn't understand is how her brother didn't share some very important information with her about his best friend, the guy she started seeing after Brendan.  I don't care if this guy gave her brother a kidney, which he didn't, he should have told his sister this very important information because it affects the rest of her life and she should be more important to him than his buddy.  I also couldn't believe Brendan didn't tell her or have someone else tell her when he found out.  That was probably the hardest thing for me to get over.  I also didn't like when the decision of who she'll marry isn't really made by her, but by a guy.  Overall, the story was okay and if you like romance, you might like it.

I received a kindle copy free from Booklook Bloggers in exchange for an honest review.

This is only available as an e-book or audio right now.

Check out the book on Christianbook's site: Christianbook

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